One issue for transport systems, including various types of conveyor systems, is the provision of power to a moving element/pallet for use as a power source on the moving element/pallet, either while stationary or moving. Having a power source on the moving element/pallet can be used for many different reasons during processing, testing or the like.
Conveyor or transport systems are used in many environments to move items or parts in an efficient manner. Transport systems will typically include moving elements that move in a controlled manner. Transport systems may also include pallets designed for carrying or supporting the items or parts that are to be moved. The pallets may be separate or combined/connected with the moving elements.
In some circumstances, the pallets are required to carry or support breakable, flexible or small parts. Conventional or pallets may have some fixturing or other means of supporting the parts or the parts may be held down by gravity but conventional pallet support systems often have difficulty in handling these types of parts and result in having the part fall or break during transportation due to changing acceleration, bumping, or other factors. Conventional fixtures are larger than the parts the fixture is containing to accommodate the full tolerance range of both the parts being contained and the tooling tolerance stack-ups. The larger size allows parts to be loaded into the fixture or unloaded from the fixture reliably without jamming or damaging the parts, but the parts may not be held in a consistent precise location.
In other circumstances, the pallets may be required to provide or maintain various environments, for example, a vacuum, on the pallet for processing operations, clean-room type concerns or the like.
Conventionally, power is provided to the moving elements by having a battery on the moving element, connecting the moving element to a power source when stationary at a work station, or complex cabling systems to allow an electrical connection to the moving element.
Accordingly, it is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved system and method for providing vacuum on a moving element/pallet of a transportation system.